Wow, three chapters in 2 weeks! That's a record XD

Disclaimer: Clamp owns all of the characters involved except the ones I invented. Oh, and Betheel and Bezkaniel are not mine either, they're my friend. (Although you don't really know Bezkaniel right now)
Couple: KuroXFai
Editor : A big thanks to Morningstripe for correcting all my mistakes.

Chapter X : City Ruled By Demons

The ninja looked, as did Syaoran and Mokona. There, near the forest, stood the archangel of happiness. He was smiling brightly at them.

"Oh great!" thought Kurogane. "We'll be led by another hyperactive idiot!"

"Lord Raphael!"

The ninja started, surprised to hear how the people of the village addressed the archangel. Some of them came toward him and his smile became embarrassed.

"Now, come on everyone! How many times have I told you not to call me that? Just because I'm an archangel doesn't mean you have to address me as lord!"

"But, Raphael-sama, you are too important to be addressed any other way!" said a woman.

Raphael gave an exasperated sigh. "No, I'm not! I'm simply a more powerful angel, but I'm here to help you! It's not like I'm ruling over this village, nor over this land!"

"But, Raphael-sama..."

And another exasperated sigh.

So the guy was humble, eh? Kurogane was actually impressed. He thought that, hyperactive like he was, he would have enjoyed the addressing.

Syaoran came forward. "Please, Raphael-san. You say you'll guide us?"

The villagers looked at the boy with disapproval when they heard him call Raphael like that and Syaoran became uncomfortable.

"Stop it, everyone! What he called me is just fine, and I prefer it, anyway." He looked back at the boy. "Yes, I'll guide you there. It was where I was heading," he said.

Kurogane sighed. Although he didn't like at all the idea of travelling with an idiot, it was their only guide and they would need him.

"Fine then, let's get going," he growled.

Raphael smiled, than waved at the villagers before leading the way.

While they were following him, Kurogane was looking at their surroundings to remember the path. Not long after, his eyes landed on a form which was heading toward the forest.

Betheel!

And, also, for two seconds only, he thought he saw... black wings! But they disappeared before he got the chance to really see.

While observing him, the ninja wondered why the archangel was going into the forest. It had nothing special in it, except for the portal.

Would he go use it? But why? He did have wings and the humans clearly knew about them. So he could fly freely! Why would he be using the portal then?

The black wings he had seen... Maybe it hadn't been his imagination. That must be it! Betheel didn't want anyone to see them, so he used the portal.

To confirm his thoughts, Kurogane asked, "Hey, Raphael, do angels have black wings in your country?"

"Hmm? Only fallen angels. Why do you ask?"

"Just a thought."

So Betheel would be a fallen angel? No... more like a fallen archangel. But... how come no one noticed (especially since he was an archangel)? Six wings don't go unnoticed! This was really getting suspicious.

They continued to walk for a while, Kurogane lost in thought. He was getting worried for the mage. Would he be all right? Would he have another pain attack? And the princess... would she be able to protect him if something happened?

Kurogane sighed. Maybe he was worrying too much. They were staying in the angel's city. Betheel couldn't possibly do anything to harm them, could he?

He was pulled from his thoughts when Raphael and Syaoran stopped. When he looked up, he saw a little group of demons before them.

"Hey! If it isn't Raphael!" exclaimed one of them. They grinned.

"Say, Raphael!" said another. "Why are you with humans? Are you le–"

But he couldn't say more as his head fell to the ground, soon followed by his body. Raphael had drawn his sword out and had sliced the demon's head clean off. The other two stared at the dead body in shock. What had just happened?

"What the–"

But a wound opened from the left shoulder of one demon to his right leg. He fell beside his comrade, also dead.

The first one to speak was also the last one standing, looking horrified. "What are you doing? You're not su —"

Unfortunately for him, he also joined the other two. Raphael's sword had skewered his heart.

"I hate demons who talk too much," said Raphael with a smile, although his voice had sounded empty of emotions.

Kurogane shuddered a little. Something was wrong in that voice.

Also, the demons had looked surprised, no outraged, that Raphael attacked them, as if this were an unusual thing. Then again, it seemed odd for an Archangel to kill, even if it was a demon.

Yes, it was surprising that Raphael had killed them. Especially since Kurogane hadn't thought he wasn't the type to just take life away like that. He seemed more like the one who cared about it very much.

So why…?

"Why did you kill them?" he asked at long last, as they began to leave.

"Hmm? Because, since that new king arrived, there's no rules and demons kill humans and angels for fun, almost everyday. They deserve it!"

"But, they hadn't done anything yet. How could you know that they killed someone, that they weren't an exception?"

"Because it's not the first time I've seen them. They killed a whole village before I could arrive to help."

Raphael turned his body to face Kurogane, though he continued to walk backward. He had a very sad smile on his face. "I know you're very suspicious about me," he said. "I can feel it. But I assure you I wasn't insensitive for nothing. Those three deserved it and I'm sure that if I had done nothing, they would have caused more harm."

Kurogane sighed, than thought of something. "You felt that I was suspicious?"

Raphael nodded. "Yes, I'm empathic. This means I can feel emotions."

The ninja winced. He didn't like the idea of this idiot to feel every emotion he had.

And he realised, that must mean he knew about his feelings for the wizard! "Aargh! If he tells anything to anyone, archangel or not, he is dead!"

Raphael laughed a little and his smile brightened. That must have been his way to say: "Don't worry, I won't say anything!"

But even so, the ninja still didn't like it. However, he couldn't do anything, could he? Sighing deeply, he continued to follow.

The ninja had been right about Betheel. He had indeed gone into the forest so he could use the portal.

Arriving in the field, the healer went to the well. He looked first to his right and left, then behind him, as if to make sure no one was seeing him or had followed him. Then, he got in the well to get to Akamasu.

When he arrived, he slipped off before the guards could see him. If they did, they would ask him why he had used the portal and why he hadn't flown, especially since he wasn't wounded or anything.

While walking in the streets, he wondered how his patient was doing. He had to go see him. So, he headed off for the humans' house.

"We're here," said Raphael, not too loudly, but clear enough for the three behind him to hear.

In front of them was a little city filled with demons. There were no humans around, though. When they entered, they saw that demons were mostly training and destroying their surroundings. They didn't care about the city at all and it showed.

Kurogane didn't like being here, so he put a hand on his sword, ready to take it out in case of an emergency.

While they walked, demons watched them with viciousness, like they wanted to take them down, but they did nothing.

It was like they were afraid of Raphael. Kurogane decided that it was the fact that he was an archangel and ignored the looks.

They stopped at the center of the village where, for the first time since they entered, a demon came towards them. "Well, well, well– if it isn't the archangel Raphael."

He grinned evilly and the latter returned his smile, although his was a nice and playful.

"What are you doing here? You know you are not welcome here! And that you are in a minority group, even though you're an archangel!"

That didn't seem to scare Raphael and he continued to smile. "I'm here to see your king."

"Oh! You're here to see the king? But why didn't you say so any sooner?" He laughed, as did the demons behind him. "Why the hell would we lead you to him, heh?"

"Because..."

Like a flash, Raphael took the demon's arm, twisted it and put it behind he's back. Then, Raphael laid his sword on the demon's throat. "...I'm sure you don't want to die."

The demon didn't seem frightened. On the contrary, he started to laugh. Kurogane and Syaoran looked at each other, wondering how a person of sound mind could laugh while he was being threaten by a sword.

"Oh, very good! But tell me, what would you do if I do this?"

The demon tried to strike Raphael's stomach, but, unfortunately for him, Raphael dodged and he missed.

They were now facing each other, on guard, both having the same smile they had at the beginning.

"I would simply avoid it!" answered Raphael.

The demon gave an amused sigh and took back a normal position. "Well then, sorry, but the king isn't there today."

Raphael's smile disappeared and he frowned. "What?"
"I said he's not here today. Are you deaf?"

"Where is he?"

"In Jigoku, where do you think? Certainly not in Akamasu!"

Raphael sighed. "Fine then."

He looked at Syaoran and Kurogane. "Let's go. We'll come back tomorrow, maybe we'll have a better chance."

And, without another word, Raphael left the city, followed by the three others.

Syaoran looked at Mokona, who sat on Kurogane's shoulder. "Say, Mokona, did you sense the feather while we were heading for this city?"

Mokona seemed to think for a moment, before answering. "It was faint, but Mokona sensed something coming from this town. But now, it's gone. Mokona doesn't feel it anymore, although it knows it has been here."

The boy looked at Kurogane. They both thought the same thing.

Ashura had been here. He also had been here not too long ago, since Mokona had felt the feather not too long ago.

The fact that they had missed him was really suspicious, as if he had left on purpose. Something was going on, and Kurogane planned to get to the bottom of it.

"F... Fai-san?"

He took a step forward, and she took one back.

Sakura was trembling in fear. The mage was acting weird and she didn't like at all the smile he had. "Fai-san, w... what are you doing?"

He approached her and put his hand on her throat, like he would strangle her, but only caressed her skin.

For a moment only.

She shivered at the contact. His hands were cold... She tried to go backward again, but he stopped her by putting his other hand on her back.

"You won't go anywhere, princess," he whispered, his voice cold and unearthly.

He was about to tighten his hand, but, at this moment, the door downstairs opened.

"Hime, we're home!" called Syaoran.

"Tee hee hee! Kurogane was rushing to the house! He is soo worried for Fai-mommy!" cheered Mokona.

"Shut up, stupid manjuu!" snapped the ninja.

Hearing his voice, Fai changed completely. His eyes became normal again and he lost his smile. He started to shake violently and cough harshly. He fell on his knees, unable to stop coughing.

"Fai-san!" cried Sakura.

The ninja, hearing that from downstairs, hurried to get to the room and entered in it. He quickly knelt in front of the mage and took him by the shoulders to see what was wrong.

"Give me the bottle!" he demanded.

She quickly did as she was told and gave the bottle to Kurogane.

"Go get me some water! It'll help him take the medicine."

She nodded and hurried out of the room. He took advantage of the moment and took some medicine in his mouth before raising Fai's head and kissing him. It was the only way he knew the mage would really take it.

Fai didn't fall asleep right away this time. He continued to cough hard, still shaking fiercely. That concerned Kurogane. Was the medicine not working anymore?

But he was soon relieved when the mage was finally put to sleep by the medication.

The ninja wrapped protective arms around the fragile form sleeping on his knees. Something had been wrong, he knew it.

When Sakura came back with the water, he had already put Fai to bed.

"What happened?" he asked the princess.

"I... I don't know! When I came to check on him, he was having a bad dream. When he woke up, he wasn't really himself anymore."

"Not really himself?"

She shook her head. Shaking a little, she continued. "No. There were no expression in his eyes and he was smiling evilly. When he got up, he...he... he tried to kill me..."

Hearing that, Kurogane frowned and moved toward her.

"Are you ok?" he asked, examining her with his eyes.

"Y... yes. When you arrived, he hadn't had the time to do anything. I think it's when he heard your voice that he came back to his self."

The ninja looked at the sleeping form behind him and sighed. "Thanks. I'll take it from here."
She nodded and went out of the room.

The ninja took a chair and sat down beside the bed. Brushing a lock of blond hair, he noticed how feverish the mage was. That made him furious.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "Tomorrow, I promise that I'll find Ashura, one way or another!"

"Oh, by the way, Kurogane-san!"

Sakura was back in the doorway.

"What is it?"
"Betheel-san didn't show up today."

N/A : Mouah ah ah! The same kind of ending as ever. Now, I'm sure everyone wants more! xD

I want to take the time to thank everyone who has reviewed on this story, since I haven't done it on the other chapters. It's really nice to all of you and is really appreciated! I've never had so much reviews before!! XD

Well, see you in the next chapter!